My Experience at Best Buy

I just went to Best Buy at Santana Row (in San Jose) to pick up a game I bought online. I didn’t expect it to be a learning experience, but it was. I learned that I should not shop at Best Buy.

Just a few numbers from the experience:

Time of arrival at Best Buy - 8:30 pm Sunday, November 23rd

Amount of money spent at Best Buy – $8.65

Time spent browsing in the store – 20 minutes

Number of people in line when I got in the “Store Pick up” line – 2 (not counting myself)

Number of people who cut in line while I was waiting - 1

Number of people at the counter serving people - 1

Time it took for me to get to the front of the line – 30 minutes

Time it took for me to give the girl my name, and for her to find my item – approximately 2 minutes

Time of departure from Best Buy – 9:25 pm

I waited in line for 30 minutes so I could get my $8 game, and I will not be going back. Best Buy got a little bit of money from me and alienated me as a customer.

Compare that to the fact that I spent about $100 on Steam this week during which I was visiting with my family for Thanksgiving. I didn’t have to wait in line, got what I as a customer consider some great deals, and was left feeling very happy.

My experience with Amazon this week was much like Steam. Great buys and I’m happy about the whole experience.